Norse Mythology – Construction of the Wall of Asgard

The story goes that once a man by the name of Hrimthurs claimed to the gods that he could build the walls within a single winter, but for a price. If he completed, then the gods would have to give him the Sun and the Moon for compensation as well as Freyja for a wife. 

Loki was convinced that he could never finish them on time and got the gods to accept the wager. What the gods did not know was that Hrimthurs could do so, since he wasn’t a human. He was actually a giant and had a magical horse called Svadilfari. This horse could move huge blocks with magical ease.

When the winter was just about coming to an end, Hrimthurs had nearly completed the task on hand. The gods realised they were in trouble and that they would have to part with the prised possession of the Sun and Moon and above all, the goddess Freyja. All the gods approached Loki to bail them out, since it was anyway he who had convinced them into this.

Loki, true to his self, changed himself into a beautiful mare and went on to distract Hrimthurs horse, Svadilfari. Svadilfari began to chase Loki who was in the form of a mare, leaving Hrimthurs to fend for himself! Without the horse, he could not complete his task and lost the wager. When Hrimthurs come to know of the truth, he threatened to destroy his work, and in his rage, he lost his disguise, revealing to all that he was no human but a giant.



Odin Riding the eight-legged Sleipner



 Thor was very angry at this and struck him with his mighty hammer, killing him instantly. Few months’ back Loki brought to Asgard an eight-legged colt named Sleipner, which was the offspring of Svadilfari and Loki as the mare. Sleipnir became the magical steed of Odin when it grew up and was a constant companion of Odin.

This Nordic myth has similarities to the Indian myth of amrut-manthan, where the demons disguise as gods to drink the nectar (as compared to the giant disguising as human here) to achieve immortality (here to gain the Sun, Moon as well as goddess Freyja). In the amrut-manthan, Vishnu disguises as Mohini to distract the demons, and here we have Loki disguised as a mare to distract the giant’s stallion. Just as the union of the horse and Loki as the mare gives birth to an eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, which becomes dear to Odin, in amrut-manthan we have seen, how the union of Shiva and Vishnu as Mohini gives birth to Lord Ayappa!

Norse Mythology – Yggdrasill, the World Tree

Yggdrasill or the World Tree is a tree which supports the universe, with its roots connecting the nine Nordic worlds. Notable amongst all the worlds are Asgard, Valhalla, Midgard and Hel. Besides the worlds, there are three wells too. Before we move ahead, let us understand the worlds as per the tree.

Asgard was the home of the Gods. The only entrance to the Asgard was                        thru the “Rainbow Bridge”. The red arc in the rainbow stood for burning fire – to                               make it impassable for the Giants, since they were made of Frost and also known as the Frost Giants. Asgard was home to all gods and goddesses and each one had his or her own palace. Amongst all the halls in Asgard, the most important of all was Valhalla.

Valhalla

Valhalla is Odin’s hall in Asgard and is considered to be the best one in. Valhalla literally means the “Hall of Heroes”. The brave warriors who died in battle were brought here by the Valkyries (women warriors who served Odin) after death, which is considered to be an honour. In Valhalla, Odin dined with the warriors. The warriors were kept here for the final war called the Ragnarok, where only the brave would participate. (Ragnarok is a separate chapter altogether and will be discussed separately). The description of Valhalla is also very beautiful.

Valhalla had overlapping shields for a roof, held up by the spear-shafts as rafters. There were 540 doors. And from each of the door, eight hundred warriors could enter or leave the hall. Instead of torch-fires, the light in the great hall were lit by the glowing blades of swords. Mail shirts were strewn on the benches. In front of the western doors, there hanged a wolf. Hovering above Valhalla was a single eagle. There was also a tree standing in front of the doors of Valhalla; the tree had red-gold foliage.

Midgard was the dwelling of the Mankind. According to the Nordic Mythology, man was made from tree trunks and the Askr and Embla were the first man and woman, respectively. Odin had bestowed them with the gift of breath, Hoenir (another god) gave them understanding and the god Lodur gave them senses and outer appearance.

Hel or Niflhel was considered to be the land of the dead.

Besides the worlds, there were three wells. The significance of water is explained through different wells. One of them was considered to be a holy well water from which was used to water the Tree to avoid from the rotting of its roots. The other was the Well of Knowledge and as we have seen earlier, Odin had to pay with his eye to have a drink from this well. The third well was known as the Roaring Kettle, where a giant serpent which was continuously chewing at the root of the Tree, leading to its ultimate collapse during Ragnarok. This serpent was at constant war with the eagle at top of the tree. This eagle was extremely wise and fuelling the constant war was a squirrel that would keep going up and down the Tree delivering messages between the two to keep them at a constant war!

The concept of a tree at the centre of universe and the deep roots holding on to the worlds and every iota of existence is a beautiful thought. This is quite similar to the other cultures which consider a tree to be nourishing and life-giving. The details of Yggdrasill is covered in the poems is in great details, and the above is a gist of just a few of the important aspects of the same.

Tomorrow we will discuss the myth of the Construction of Wall of Asgard where we will read about the role of Loki, the trickster.